Paper sheet feed device

ABSTRACT

Paper sheet feed device includes a plurality of paper sheet feed means disposed such that each means can feed paper sheets having a predetermined size. When paper sheets are supplemented or replaced by the sheets of other size, the paper feed means is moved from its operative position to nonoperative position, but the paper sheets have been supplemented or replaced, the paper sheet feed means is automatically returned to its operative position with the aid of pawl members and ladder chain cooperating with feed means.

[ Mar. 7, 1972 United States Patent Sato ...27l/36 X .....27l/36.....271/36 ....27l/36 Carlson.............................

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Primary Examiner-Joseph Wegbreit Attorney-Ward, McElhannon, Brooks &Fitzpatrick 211 App]. No.: 4,227

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Jan. 28, 1969Japan.....................................44/7826 ABSTRACT ,44/15144Paper sheet feed device includes a plurality of paper sheet feed meansdisposed such that each means can feed paper Feb. 19, 1969 sheets havinga predetermined size. When paper sheets are supplemented or replaced bythe sheets of other size, the 271/3637 paper feed means is moved fromits operative position to nonoperative position, but the paper sheetshave been supplemented or replaced, the paper sheet feed means isautomati- [Sl] Int. [58] Field of Search References Cited UNITED STATESPATENTS cally returned to its operative position with the aid of pawlmembers and ladder chain cooperating with feed means.

3,273,883 Baronnie 5Clairns,5Drawing Figures PAPER SHEET FEED DEVICE Thepresent invention relates to a paper sheet feed device and moreparticularly a paper sheet feed device of the type in which paper sheetsare fed one by one from the uppermost one of a stack of paper sheets.

Rolled or sheet photocopying and printing papers are used forphotocopying by electrophotographic copying machines, diazo type copyingmachines, printing presses and so on. In photocopying machines, therolled photocopying paper is cut into a predetermined size before orafter it is fed into a copying section, while in case of a stack ofphotocopying paper sheets are used, the sheets are fed one by one fromthe uppermost one of the stack.

The present invention relates to an improvement of a paper sheet feeddevice. In the conventional paper sheet feed device, a stack of papersheets is supported on a paper feed stand and is held in position by useof guide plates which press against the side edges of the paper sheetsso that the latter may be aligned. Paper sheet feed means is placed uponthe stack of paper sheets whose leading side edges are aligned by meansof paper sheet separating pawl members, which apply'a suitable forceupon the stack of paper sheets so as to hold them in position. When thepaper feed device of the character described above is actuated, theuppermost paper sheet is caused to bend or curve arcuately between saidpaper feed means and said separating pawl members. When the paper sheetis curved arcuately beyond a predetermined degree, the leading edge ofthe paper sheet is disengaged from the pawl members and springs outforwardly so as to be fed by the feed rollers into a next processingsection. However, said feed means must be readjusted in positiondepending upon the sizes of paper sheets to be used. This readjustmentis very delicate and complex so that even a little misadjustment causesthe misfeed of paper sheets. Furthermore, the readjustment takes arelatively long time, thus resulting in a low efficiency of the paperfeed operation. When the paper sheets having the same size aresupplemented or supplied or when the paper sheets having the differentsize are used, the paper feed means must be moved away from its paperfeed or operative position. In this case, the operator tends to fail toreturn the paper sheet feed means to its normal or operative positionafter the paper sheets have been supplemented or replaced. Thus, when aphotocopying machine is operated, no photocopying paper is fed into themachine, thus causing much time loss.

Accordingly, the primary object of the present invention is to providean improved paper sheet feed device which can feed paper sheets one byone securely and effectively.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved papersheet feed device which can feed paper sheets having various sizeswithout adjustment.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improvedpaper sheet feed device in which a paper sheet feed means which has beenmoved-away from the paper feed or operative position for supplementingor replacing paper sheets may be automatically returned to its normal oroperative position.

In brief, in a paper feed device in accordance with the presentinvention, the adjustment of the paper sheet feed means is not requiredeven when paper sheets having different sizes are fed. For this purpose,a plurality of paper sheet feed means are disposed so that each of paperfeed means feeds paper sheets having a predetermined size. When papersheets are supplemented or replaced, the paper sheet feed means is movedaway from its first position or operative position to a second position,but after the paper sheets have been supplemented or replaced, the papersheet feed means is automatically returned to its first or operativeposition.

The present invention will become more apparent from the followingdescription of one illustrative embodiment thereof with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of one embodiment of a paper sheet feeddevice in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a schematic side view thereof for explanation of an automaticpaper sheet feed roller returning means;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view thereof; and

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a variation of a ladder chainused in said means shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a stack of paper sheets P upon a paper feedstand 1 is applied along both sides thereof with suitable forces from apair of guide plates 2, and 2 which are adjustably disposed upon thepaper feed stand 1, so that a plurality of paper sheets P are correctlystacked with their side edges maintained in alignment. The leading sideedges of paper sheets P are adjusted by a pair of paper separating pawlmembers 4, and 4 each of which is pivotably fixed to each of the guideplates 2, and 2 by a pivot 3, respectively. It is noted that the leadingside edge of the uppermost sheet is applied with a suitable pressurefrom the pair of pawl members 4, and 4 A pair of feed rollers 5 and 5are disposed upon the stack of sheets P in such a manner that theserollers 5, and 5 may press against the stack of sheets P and rotate witha sufficient frictional force between them and the uppermost sheet P soas to feed it. The pair of feed rollers 5, and 5 are carried by a shaft7 which in turn is journalled by an arm member 6. A drive shaft 9 isalso journalled to the arm member 6 and has a sprocket wheel 10 overwhich is wrapped a ladder chain or the like 11, which is also wrappedover a sprocket wheel 8 carried by the roller shaft 7. Thus, therotation of the drive shaft 9 is transmitted to the shaft 7 and the pairof feed rollers S and 5 fixed thereon.

The sheet from the paper feed stand 1 is fed along a sheet insertionguide plate 12 and then into the next section or stage by a pair of feedrollers 13, and 13 When the uppermost sheet is moved by the frictionalforce by the pair of feed rollers 5, and 5 its forward movement istemporarily stopped by the pair of sheet separating pawl members 4, and4 which engage with the leading side edge of the uppermost sheet, sothat it is curved arcuately between the pawl members 4. and 4 and thefeed rollers'S and 5 When the uppermost sheet is curved in excess of apredetermined degree, the leading side edge is naturally disengaged fromthe pawl members 4, and 4 and is fed. In this case, it is noted thatwhen a plurality of sheets are stacked at random, the leading side edgeof the sheet may be not in parallel with the nip of the feed rollers 13,and I3 or a plurality of sheets may be fed at the same time, thuscausing the breakdown of a photocopying machine or the like. For thispurpose the pair of guide plates 2, and 2 are disposed upon the paperfeed stand as described hereinabove so that they may press against thesides of the stacked sheets P, whereby the sheets may be held in apredetermined position. Thus, the sheets may be fed in correct position.Furthermore, in order that a plurality of sheets may not be fed at thesame time, the guide plates 2, and 2 are pressed against the side of thestacked sheets and the sheets are stacked in the waveform as a whole byuse of a rod 14.

In a copying machine or the like, the sheets having different sizes arefrequently used and depending upon the size of the sheets to be used,the guide plates 2 and 2 must be readjusted in position. In theconventional paper feed device, the feed rollers which are generallycarried by the roller shaft for the axial movement thereof must beadjusted depending upon the size or width of the sheets to be used.Since the distance between the sheet separating pawl members and thefeed rollers generally much affects the paper sheet feed operation, theadjustment is very complicated, thus reducing the efficiency of theoperation.

The present invention contemplates to eliminate such defects describedabove. For this purpose, the pairs of feed rollers 5, and 5 and 15, and15 are fixedly secured to the roller shaft 7 with predetermineddistances from the separating pawl members 4, and 4 depending upon thesizes for example Sizes A and B of the sheets to be used. Therefore thepair of feed rollers 15, and 15 are used when the size of the sheets isSize B while the pair of rollers 5, and 5 are used when the size ofsheets to be used is Size A. It will be understood that further pairs offeed rollers may be securely fixed to the roller shaft 7 for the sizesof sheets other than Size A and B of the instant embodiment.

In the paper feed device in accordance with the present invention, theroller shaft 7 and associated feed rollers and 15 may be rotatedmanually by the operator about the drive shaft 9 so as to move theseelements away from the paper feed stand 1 to permit the addition orsubstitution of paper sheets. This is shown in FIG. 3 wherein the feedrollers 5 and 15 moved away from the paper feed stand 1 are shown inchain lines. However, it has been found that the operator forgets, inmany instances, to return the feed rollers 5 and 15 to their normal orinitial position after the paper sheets have been replaced orsupplemented, so that the operation of the paper feed device isinterrupted, resulting in low efficiency use of the machine. Toeliminate this drawback, the paper feed device of the present inventionis constructed to automatically return the feed roller shaft 7 andassociated feed rollers 5 and 15 to their initial or normal positionafter paper sheets have been replaced or supplemented. Specifically, asbest shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a guide plate 12 is disposed above astationary member 17 and both the guide plate 12 and the stationarymember 17 are inclined with respect to the paper feed stand 1 and alsowith respect to each other. A clearance for the ladder chain 16 isprovided on a side of the stationary member 17 to allow the arm member 6to pivot about the drive shaft 9 and position the roller shaft 7 andassociated feed rollers 5 and 15 above the guide plate 12 clear of thepaper sheets P positioned in the paper feed stand 1. 'As best shown inFIG. 4, an inclined detent member 18 is provided on the portion of thestationary member 17 which is adjacent this clearance. The detent member18 is constructed to fit between adjacent bars 16' of the ladder chain16 and support the roller shaft 7 and associated feed rollers 5 and 15in a second position clear of the paper feed stand 1, whereby the papersheets P can be freely substituted or added.

After the paper sheets P have been replenished or replaced, if theoperator fails to manually return the roller shaft 7 and associated feedrollers 5 and 15 to the initial or feed position, the sprocket wheel isdriven by the drive shaft 9 in the direction indicated by the arrow 0(FIG. 4), while the detent member 18 engages and holds a bar 16' of theladder chain 16, whereby the ladder chain 16 is pulled in tension with atensile force. While the ladder chain 16 is under the resistance of thisdetent member 18, opposing tensile forces are induced in the parts ofthe ladder chain 16 on the opposite sides of the sprocket wheel 8. Sincethe part of the ladder chain 16 between the sprocket wheels 8 and 10which contacts the detent member 18 is displaced inwardly (FIG. 3), thedirections of the tensile force acting on both sides of the sprocketwheel 8 are not the same, but rather are inclined to one another.Accordingly, the direction and the amount of the resultant or totalforce of the two forces acting about the sprocket wheel 8 is determinedby the so called parallelogram rule used to obtain a total vector ofcomponent vectors. It will be appreciated that the direction of theresultant or total force acting about the sprocket wheel 8 extends tothe left (FIG. 3) with respect to the centerline' connecting the centersof the sprocket wheels 8 and 10 because the part of the ladder chain 16which engages the detent member 18 is displaced to the left. Thisresultant or total force can be divided into two components, namely aradial component and a tangential component. The direction of the radialcomponent corresponds to that of the centerline connecting the centersof the sprocket wheels 8 and 10, and the direction of the tangentialcomponent is normal to the radial component and acts on the circularlocus of the center of the sprocket wheel 8. The radial component isabsorbed at the journal between the sprocket wheel 8 and the arm member6, while the tangential component acts to rotate the feed rollers 5 andand arm member 6 about the drive shaft 9. The feed rollers 5 and 15 arereturned to their initial or normal position by this tangentialcomponent together with the inertia of the rotating assembly which issufficient to move the arm member 6 past its upright position so thatgravity will carry the arm member 6 and associated feed rollers 5 and 15downwardly to the initial or normal position. If the arm member 6 andthe feed rollers 5 and 15 mounted on the shaft 7 do not provide thenecessary inertia to carry the assembly past its upright position (FIG.3), the detent member 18 must be mounted as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 toincline relative to the ladder chain 16 so that the intersecting angleformed between the lower surface of the detent member 18 and the linearline of the ladder chain 16 on the part of the detent member 18 beinginserted is less than a right angle when the two facing parts of theladder chain 16 on opposite sides of the sprocket wheels 8 and 10 arealigned in parallel. In this case. as the drive shaft 9 and the sprocketwheel 10 are being forced to drive the ladder chain 16 in the directionindicated with the arrow a (FIG. 4) the bar 16' contacting the lowersurface of the detent member 18 will slide on the surface of the detentmember 18 towards the top end, overcoming the frictional force inducedat the contact line. After disengaging the bar 16' with the detentmember 18, the arm member 6 is pivoted past its upright position to theinitial or feed position by the function of the driving forcetransmitted through the sprocket wheel 10 to the ladder chain 16.

The pitch of the bar 16' of the ladder chain 16, or its distance betweenthe bars 16, is so determined that the detent member 18 does not affectthe movement of the ladder chain 16 as described hereinabove.Furthermore, the mounted angle of the detent member 18 is establishedconsidering the interrelation between the detent member 18 and theladder chain 16.

Although a ladder chain 16 has been utilized as a transmitting means inthe embodiment of FIGS. 1 through 4, it will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art, that alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, a belt 19having a plurality of teeth 20 on its underside surface may be used asthe transmitting means.

What is claimed is:

1. A paper sheet feed device comprising:

a. support means for supporting a stack of paper sheets,

b. drive means fixedly mounted in said sheet device for supplying adrive force,

c. paper sheet feed means,

d. means for pivotally mounting said paper sheet feed means with respectto said drive means for movement between a first position at saidsupport means for feeding paper sheets and a second position remote fromsaid support means permitting change or addition to said stack of papersheets,

e. transmitting means for transmitting said drive force from said drivemeans to said paper sheet feed means, and

f. holding means at said second position for holding said transmittingmeans and opposing said drive force to induce in said transmitting meansa rotating force in said paper sheet feed means and pivot said papersheet feed means about said drive means to said first position at saidsupport means.

2. A paper sheet feed device as in claim 1, wherein said paper sheetfeed means includes feed rollers mounted on a common rotatable shaft andwherein said transmitting means transmits said drive force from saiddrive means to said rotating shaft.

3. A paper sheet feed device as in claim 2, wherein a first sprocketwheel is coupled to said drive means and a second sprocket wheel ismounted for rotation about said common shaft, and wherein saidtransmitting means includes a ladder chain carried by said first andsecond sprocket wheels and wherein said holding means includes a detentmember engaging said ladder chain at said second position.

4. A paper sheet feed device as in claim 2, wherein a first belt-drivingmeans is provided on said common shaft and a second belt-driving meansis provided on said drive means, and wherein said transmitting meansincludes a belt carried by said first and second belt-driving means,said belt having a plurality of recesses, and said holding meansincluding means for engaging one of said recesses at said secondposition.

5. A paper sheet feed device comprising means for supporting a stack ofpaper sheets, adjustable guide plate means disposed to feed said papersheets of said second width, means for mounting said plurality of feedrollers to be selectively switched between a first position for feedingpaper sheets and a second position moved away from said first position,and means for driving said plurality of feed rollers to feed papersheets from said stack.

1. A paper sheet feed device comprising: a. support means for supportinga stack of paper sheets, b. drive means fixedly mounted in said sheetdevice for supplying a drive force, c. paper sheet feed means, d. meansfor pivotally mounting said paper sheet feed means with respect to saiddrive means for movement between a first position at said support meansfor feeding paper sheets and a second position remote from said supportmeans permitting change or addition to said stack of paper sheets, e.transmitting means for transmitting said drive force from said drivemeans to said paper sheet feed means, and f. holding means at saidsecond position for holding said transmitting means and opposing saiddrive force to induce in said transmitting means a rotating force insaid paper sheet feed means and pivot said paper sheet feed means aboutsaid drive means to said first position at said support means.
 2. Apaper sheet feed device as in claim 1, wherein said paper sheet feedmeans includes feed rollers mounted on a common rotatable shaft andwherein said transmitting means transmits said drive force from saiddrive means to said rotating shaft.
 3. A paper sheet feed device as inclaim 2, wherein a first sprocket wheel is coupled to said drive meansand a second sprocket wheel is mounted for rotation about said commonshaft, and wherein said transmitting means includes a ladder chaincarried by said first and second sprocket wheels and wherein saidholding means includes a detent member engaging said ladder chain atsaid second position.
 4. A paper sheet feed device as in claim 2,wherein a first belt-driving means is provided on said common shaft anda second belt-driving means is provided on said drive means, and whereinsaid transmitting means includes a belt carried by said first and secondbelt-driving means, said belt having a plurality of recesses, and saidholding means including means for engaging one of said recesses at saidsecond position.
 5. A paper sheet feed device comprising means forsupporting a stack of paper sheets, adjustable guide plate meansdisposed on said supporting means and adjustable to engage the sides ofpaper sheets of at least first and second widths, a plurality of feedrollers carried by a common shaft and in spaced-apart relation with eachother for feeding paper sheets from said stack of paper sheets, some ofsaid plurality of feed rollers being disposed to feed only said papersheets of said first width and said some of said plurality of feedrollers together with other of said plurality of feed rollers beingdisposed to feed said paper sheets of said second width, means formounting said plurality of feed rollers to be selectively switchedbetween a first position for feeding paper sheets and a second positionmoved away from said first position, and means for driving saidplurality of feed rollers to feed paper sheets from said stack.